Allan R

The sport wheel was option N34 and looks similar to the one in the car. The 'Starfire' wheel was an Omega option and came into being around 1975 IIRC. Still it looks ok, just smaller and makes seeing the gages a little bit of a pain.

If you look closely at this pic you can see the differences in the wheel. Look carefully at where the rubber goes onto the brushed spokes - there's no stitching there on 70-72 wheels. Hard to see the size comparison though.


Bottom line with the 37K or not is that you are comfortable with the seller being honest.

re: fenders. May I suggest you stay with OEM Original Equipment Manufacture , not NOS or repro fenders? There are several guys on this site who part out these cars and have a stockpile of fenders in decent shape. Best part is that any of them will be guaranteed to fit and just need some clean up - no modifications like repros often do.

Of all them, Eric is the most likely to have 1970 fenders. All of them are very reputable and fair in their selling and shipping. I know they would also be willing to take photos and send them to you for consideration. I don't know where you're located, but 3 of them are East, and 1 is west. IIRC Scott just got a 1970 rallye 350 he's parting out...
John - 2blu442 (OR)
Eric - jensenracing77 (Brazil IN)
Scott - oldspackrat (Indianapolis IN)
Brian - 507OLDS (Erie PA)

TicTocTach

i NEVER would have seen that... they look too identical! hahaha You are a wealth of knowledge my good sir. I will DEF take your advice on the fenders. I ASSUMED the repro fenders would line up and be good... but there will be no question a good straight set of original used fenders will be the way to go. I am over on Eastern Long Island so Brian would be the closest to me... but when im ready to rock, i will contact these guys and see who has what!

stevengerard

Do your best to get used fenders or as mentioned patch what you have. Most repo stuff is pretty good, some stuff is great, repo fenders are awful (I know!). You may end up having to use 71/72 used fenders and you already have one on there that is so no biggie but I'd try to find 70 fenders if possible. I too would question the 37k but who cares, unless this car was in really really nice condition and ALL original the way I look at it is the less miles you have on your car the less likely you will be to drive it.

TicTocTach

Hey Steven.... yea i honestly dont have anything but the original owners words on that. He was blown away when he got the phone call about a car he hasnt seen in forever... and thats what he told me he parked the car with before he "went away" (jail) and his buddy who had the car at his house, sold it on him. OUCH.. but never the less, he was extatic about talking about it again with me. From what i can assume being he knew the mileage he drove it that 37,XXX miles and parked it. Doesnt really matter to me either way to be honest. Im going by what the interior looks like too and it honestly doesnt look like a 137,000 lol... but who knows!! hahaha... everything will be fresh when i get done with it so it doesnt matter to me. I just want a cool, fun car to drive. Im not building a crazy race car or a trailer queen. I want to put my nephew in the back, and go!!!

Allan R

If you sat in my 72, you would probably swear it was a 20K mile car. But it has turned once. I just take really good care of it and it's always been garaged. It was winter driven only up till 86. After I had it restored, it didn't see the sun much because I was always working. NEVER saw a flake of snow in all that time either. I was really fortunate that I could buy all the OEM parts from the dealer in 86. IIRC the new GM fenders only cost around 240.00 each - big bucks for me back in those days. I see NOS fenders (71/72) being flogged for over 1200 each now. Gotta ask yourself how important that is, and how deep are your pockets. BTW, as far as the fenders go, I woudn't wait to ask those fellows if they have them. These parts don't stick around forever, and if you can store them in a cool dry place till you need them that's a better way to go.

TicTocTach

Got the car out of its spot and on the lift today for the first time since ive owned it! Someone undercoated the car which im thinking is what saved its life here. lol. The floors pans are solid as a rock, frame is solid... the coating def did its job. Car is actually in ALOT better shape then what i was expecting to see especially when i saw how bad the trunk lid was. Opened the trunk and couldnt believe it, solid everywhere. Trunk floor is solid, area all around where the trunk lid meets the body is solid. I plan on pulling the front clip off the car, cleaning everything up nice to repaint etc. Question is how hard is it to pull the body off the car? I cant see doing the engine bay up all nice and leaving the rest of the frame and under the car as ratty as it is. My problem is i dont really have the space in the shop to leave the body of the car. Is it a total nightmare? id really like to do it right and make it mint and the only way would be to pull the body off and clean the frame up nice that way. Thoughts?

Allan R

Just need the time and space. If you look in the AM you will find the location of all the body mounts. Without looking I think there are 10??(not counting the rad support) locations you need to undo. Then it's just a matter of lifting the body off and rolling out the chassis.

Removing the front clip makes it easier to lift the rest of the body. Also take out the fuel tank too; by now it's prolly time to replace the fuel lines and hoses anyway. The body mount bolts should be accessible from the bottom of the frame but I think you will need someone to hold a wrench or socket on the nut inside of the car?

TicTocTach

I planned on pulling the front clip off completely before i pulled the body off as it has to come apart either way being the fenders are beat. Buddy of mine told me harbor freight has some heavyweight dollys that i could lay the body down onto so i figured i could pick up 4 of those to roll the body out on. My concern is lifting the body off the car. Will the body flex? blow the glass out? bend anything? My plan here is to put the legs of the lift under the body and lift the body off the frame, roll the frame out, then put the body down on the dollys. I just dont want to twist the body up in anyway. Should i be concerned?

QMaster

Welcome! Nice project!

stevengerard

Sounds like you are going to make this car a really nice driver, with that in mind if the underneath is so nice why bother taking it off the frame. My car was a southern car so I didn't touch the frame, just misted a few parts with black paint and it looks great. Will save you time, money and who the heck looks under the car anyway. When people look at mine they assume mine was a frame-off - hard to tell the difference after a few miles of driving anyway.

TicTocTach

Hey Guys.... is there any way of finding out if my car came with power steering or not? When i got the car it had a 396 BBC in it and it had power steering in it. Any way of knowing if thats the original box? I pulled the tank down yesterday... no build sheet.. but you guys did say lansing cars it would be a miricle if i found it. lol. Never the less, ive been making progress on the car with dissassembly... but id really like to know if the power steering was original to the car. Nice option that i would like to put back in there if the car did originally come with it.

Thanks!

Allan R

From what I know about them, the 1970 W30 came with MANUAL front disc brakes because it would have had the 328° camshaft. Looking at your pic, it's also missing the mandatory red inner wheel liners.

TicTocTach

Cool... i will have to look into it... i have a manual box from a parts car 70 W-31 im sure i could use either way. If you look close Allan, the driver side fender well is the original red, but the original owner painted it black. the pass side one had been changed at some point and replaced with a black one, but over the years the paint has come off and if you look close on the bottom corner driver side, you can see a few spots of the red coming through. Either way, both will be replaced with the correct red ones when it comes time... long ways away! haha

stevengerard

Allan, 4-speed 70 cars game with manual brakes, the autos could have had power brakes. But he's asking about N47 power steering option which was available on any 442 even on manual trans W30s.

Not sure if there is a way to tell if your car came with it based on what's left (or not) in the engine compartment.

Allan R

D'oh....don't know why I read Power steering into that.

As far as the steering though. If the car still has a manual gearbox, it's unlikely it was converted from PS to Manual, so it's probably original. Since this is claimed to be a 37K original car??? One thing to do though since he already has contacted the original owner is check back and confirm it was manual everything.

TicTocTach

I was a step ahead of you on that one. I tried calling him again, but the numbers no good. I spoke to him back when i got the car which was years ago. It has power steering in it now...with the pump for that 396 BBC that was in the car when i got it. Id ASSUME that they just put the motor in and bolted the pump up as opposed to changing the manual box out for a power steering box.... but who knows... thats why i was wondering if there was any way to figure out if the car came with it. I guess not. I will assume it came with it as i would love to have power steering in the car. lol.

stevengerard

I'd leave it in there, its a nice to have that's for sure

TicTocTach

BOOOYAHHHHHHHHHHHH the amazing works of google and 411. Found the original owner! Just got off the phone with him. It had power steering from the factory, rear defroster, map light on the dash, 391 rear, and the hood lock from inside the car. All there and in the car still! I assumed they were all options back then??? He says he remembers paying extra for a bunch of things. Truely AMAZING lol.

stevengerard

yes all those were options and of course he paid extra for the W30 package as well. I'm sure there are other items on the car as well.

TicTocTach

I cant believe i found him again. I googled his name and it came up on white pages as "possible relatives". So i 411 his name and there was no listing... so i went with the first name that came up in his area... i call... guy answers the phone... i tell him who im looking for... he goes "Whats this all about". I said "Well i have a car he used to own. A 1970 Oldsmobile 442". He goes "THE GOLD CAR!!!!". I laughed... he says that was my brothers car, hold on he's right here".

Really is amazing. The guy is 73 years old. Spent about an hour on the phone with him. He told me priceless stories about the car. Driving his 5 kids (why he had to have the bench seat!) around all the time in the car. Drag racing it all over the place. Also found out he hit the guard rail in the snow and wacked the hood, driver fender, and the trunklid out, so all 3 arent original to the car. Lol, now i know why the car has a non original driver fender on it. I told him i would take the 8 track player he put in out along with the little guages he mounted under the dash and i would box it up and send it to him, along with anything else i wasnt going to use that i think he might like..... he was extatic. I told him i would keep him in the loop on the build as i do it. Sent him a bunch of pics, he calls me back and goes "yep, thats my car!!! I was always a Chevy man, but man when that car came out in 1970, i had to have it!!!".

1969w3155

Great that you found him again, and got some history to boot!

Allan R

The power of the internet. Can you imagine if we didn't have it?? Glad you got all that good info from him. So that means you're going to have to changeout the PS gearbox and geta PS pump/hoses to install on the block. Good thing you're going with a 455 because I don't know if the PS pump bolts up the same on Chevs.

TicTocTach

It really is amazing... about 15 mins worth of work on here and found him. My old man says hes pretty sure he has a pump in the garage somewhere... so its just a matter of locating it. Tackle it when it comes to that point. Not finding a build sheet in the car thus far was a bit dissapointing... but i def dont have my hopes up. Not that i matters a whole lot as i got all the verification from the owner. I noticed yesterday the car had a trunk light mounted on the left side hindge when you open the trunk lid. Was that an option also?

1969w3155

Remember, no build sheet for Lansing built cars of this era, you may find the broadcast card under the carpeting or rear seat area. The trunk light is part of the lighting option which besides the trunk, will include an underhood light, map light (located on the rearview mirror) a light above the radio. My '71 Supreme (different roof design) also had interior lights on the sail panel, in addition to the std. dome light, I do not know if the "S" 442 bodystyle had them as part of the lighting option.

1969w3155

Pic of broadcast card.

TicTocTach

Ive had the back seat out completely, pulled the carpet up on the driver side... yet to find the broadcast card. Any ideas where it might be? Original owner told be he never found it so it has to be in the car somewhere! lol. Any specific spot i might find it???

GAOldsman

They have been known to be found under the sill plate and carpet on the driver's side and within the bucket seat backs from time to time.

Allan R

If the car was already taken apart once, any broadcast cards may have been thrown away by someone who didn't really know what they were.

You can also check under the front seats, inside the front seat backs, kick panels, under the package shelf. Chances are if you don't find them there or where you've already looked it's gonzo.

But as Dan already mentioned, it was SOP for Lansing to remove all the build documents from the cars at the end of the production line - including build sheets since the build was 'done'. Anything that had been stuffed into the car along the way would remain there. I found 3 broadcast cards for my 72 Lansing car when I was taking it apart. 1 was under the front seat springs, 1 under the front carpet and 1 behind the rear seat upright (tucked into the springs).

TicTocTach

Well I FINALLY got some free time since moving my business and it being blistering cold here to get working on the car! Here's my progress for the day...

TicTocTach

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